New Yorkers Look for 'Summer of Hell’ Source and Find Cuomo

ALBANY — Even before it began, the so-called summer of hell seemed to be causing trouble for at least one New Yorker: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

According to a poll released on Wednesday by Quinnipiac University, nearly a quarter of New York City residents give the governor a failing grade when it comes to his handling of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The authority oversees the subways and regional railroads, both of which have been plagued by problems in recent months.

The poll was largely conducted before Monday’s official beginning of the “summer of hell” — a phrase Mr. Cuomo himself coined to describe how commuters would be confronted by reduced service across the region caused by intensive track repairs at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan.

But to many New Yorkers, the problems caused by Penn Station run second to the crisis in the city’s subway system, which has been plagued by delays and breakdowns.

Only 4 percent of city dwellers gave him an A, according to the poll, a rating echoed in other parts of the state. Statewide, 17 percent give the governor an F, and half of respondents give him either a B or a C.

Those middling scores on the M.T.A. seem to also be affecting the governor’s overall approval rating statewide, which slipped to 46 percent from the 52 percent approval found in a late March poll from the university. Since then, the governor has presided over a late budget and a prolonged legislative session, which included the appointment of a new leader for the authority, Joseph J. Lhota. Over all, 38 percent of the state’s voters disapprove of the governor’s performance; his support is much weaker outside New York City and its suburbs.

Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, called the governor’s ratings on the authority a “ticking time bomb.”

“A couple more derailments or just overall weariness with traveling on the trains could derail his political prospects,” he said in a statement accompanying the poll’s findings.

The poll did have good news for fans of the governor, who was found by 65 percent of respondents to have “strong leadership qualities,” and by 52 percent to care “about their needs and problems.” Those positives did not translate into a desire to see Mr. Cuomo, a second-term Democrat up for re-election next year, pursue even higher office: 55 percent of voters said that he should not run for president in 2020. Rumors about a Cuomo presidential run are persistent and often denied.

But nearly the same percentage of voters did want the governor to take to the national political stage to challenge the policies of President Trump, who would presumably be his opponent if Mr. Cuomo were to run and win the Democratic nomination.

The Quinnipiac poll comes just seven weeks after a poll by Siena College found that the governor had obtained his highest favorable ratings in three years: 61 percent gave Mr. Cuomo a thumbs up.

The poll sought the opinions of 1,137 New York voters between July 5 and July 10, with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: New Yorkers, Asked About ‘Summer of Hell,’ Point to Cuomo as Contributing Source. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe